Illinois Playoff Roundup: May 28 Games
May 29, 2014
By Drake Skleba
Senior Writer
May 28 Playoff Roundup
Belleville West 2, No.7 O’Fallon 1 (11 innings)
Belleville West (17-16) pulled off the first shocker of the Class 4A tournament, stunning the Panthers in 11 thrilling innings at Blazier Field in O’Fallon. In the top of the 11th, Maroon Jacob Wilson’s clutch two out RBI double plated Matt Klosterman, who had walked to give BW a 2-1 lead. Maroon winning pitcher Zach Skaer gave up a walk and a two-out double to O’Fallon’s Hayden Hewitt and needed relief help from Maroon closer Parker Beine. Beine blew a 2-2 fastball by the final Panther hitter to nail down the save for Skaer. Skaer (5-2) fired 5.2 innings of scoreless relief to pick up the win. O’Fallon bows out at 32-4 and Panther ace Blake Deatherage suffers his first loss of the year, and closes out the season at 11-1.
Lincoln-Way East 7, Homewood-Flossmoor 3
Lincoln-Way East (19-16) was at it again in Flossmoor on Wednesday night, surprising the host Vikings behind the red-hot Mitch Matuszewski. The last couple of years the Griffins have struggled through .500 regular-seasons, only to go on long post-season runs. Matuszewski continued the Griffin post-season trend by hammering a two-run bomb and driving home four Griffin runs. On the mound for the Griffins, Brett Watson (4-3) fired a six-hitter at the Vikings as the stellar Griffin defense turned three double-plays.
Monticello 5, St. Joseph-Ogden 4
Monticello (25-6) trailed the Spartans 4-0 after five and then scored two in the sixth and three more in the seventh to rally past SJ-O in Tolono. David Vanderkloot got the Sages on the board in the sixth with an RBI single and he would score on a booming double to right to cut the Spartan lead to 4-2. In the top of the seventh Dan Caldwell doubled and Konnor Bundy got plunked with one out. Nick Stokowski followed with a towering drive that soared over the rightfield fence for a three-run bomb and a 5-4 Sage lead. Caldwell fired two scoreless inings in relief to pick up the win.
The Guru tracked down all the results and reports from Wednesday's 4A/3A regional semifinals and the 2A sectional semifinals. All the details ...